Wax Ecstatic: The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time Part #4

Records 70-61

and

Sep 04, 2024

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Good morning!

Here’s an affectionate attempt at ranking their records with the understanding that placing things you love in a rigid hierarchy is objectively insane
~Elizabeth Nelson

Welcome to Part 4!

We’re slowly inching our way to the halfway point in the countdown. As the numbers get smaller, the decisions on what stays and what goes get bigger.

It’s all a bit maddening, but also a helluva a good time. I hope you’re having as much fun reading these as we’re having putting them together for you.

As always, we want to hear which records landed with you, which ones didn’t, and which choices left you scratching your head. As with the previous editions, we are not responsible for any damage to laptops or phones thrown out of windows or moving vehicles.

Most importantly, we’d love to hear about your experience(s) with these albums and what they’ve meant to you in your life.

And with that, I’ll get out of the way, and get to the music.

Enjoy!

KA—

P.S. For those of you who may have missed them:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

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70: U2- The Unforgettable Fire (1984)

Stick around long enough, and you will build a discography extensive enough to cross generations. U2 is just such a band. Some people tipped out after Joshua Tree 37 years ago, and there are people born after its release who are in love with their last three records. I’m gonna carbon date myself here and say that if forced to choose, I’d be in the former camp. I stuck around a little bit longer (through Zooropa-ish), but not too much. While researching this newsletter, I realized I hadn’t even heard the band’s last four studio releases.

Those who might have hit the exit early are undoubtedly missing out on some great music. I’m not here to argue that point. Rather, if you’d stopped here with The Unforgettable Fire, you’d have a solid catalog most bands would kill for.

For their fourth record, the band was looking for a new direction. They’d tapped out their creative mine on the first three records, and while they were great, they knew they needed something fresh. The band had previously worked with Steve Lillywhite behind the boards, but they gave the keys to Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois for this one.

IMO, this is the record where U2 became the “U2” we know today. It marks the pivot from a more straightforward rock band to one with a little more oomph, some sophistication, and some atmosphere. And it only takes them about 10 seconds into the intro to opener, “A Sort of Homecoming,” to announce that to us all. Their track is expansive and moving—the type of thing best listened to on a widescreen.

U2s never shied away from an anthem, and “(Pride) in the Name of Love: is one of the earlier examples. It’s arguably the best-known track on the album, but in that long shadow are some incredible deep cuts like “Wire” with its nervous energy, the gorgeous “Bad,” and the lilting “Promenade.”

U2 is a band that has always reminded me of winter. There is an icy remove to their first three records. The unforgettable fire doesn’t completely melt that way, but it comes close. This change set the table for The Joshua Tree and worldwide acclaim just a few short years later.

Sam’s pick & my take: Tom Waits- Rain Dogs (1985)

Tom Waits makes you work. He’s not the sort of artist that hand-feeds you melodies, but if you're patient, you’re rewarded with incredible songs and brilliant lyrics. And once you're in, you're in. It’s a cool club, even if there aren't any jackets. If you are ever in the mood for a bit of chaos, gather up some die-hard music fans and have each make the case for their favorite Waits record. I guarantee someone will plea for Nighthawks at The Diner. Someone might fight their corner for Swordfishtrombones. The odds are slightly lower that someone will pick Bone Machine, but, hey, you never know. As for me? It’s Rain Dogs all day. When Rod Stewart covers one of your songs (“Downtrain Train”), and Diane Sawyerof all people, shouts you out in her Twitter bio (I like my news 24/7, my food spicy, my drinks caffeinated, my music Tom Waits-y), you know you're onto something good.

69: Van Halen- Van Halen II (1979)

Elvis Costello once famously said (paraphrasing) that you have "20 years to write your first record, but only get six months to write your second one."

That would shake most bands to the core. Indeed, history is littered with bands that fell flat after a solid debut. There's a reason the Sophomore Slump exists. Van Halen looked at that and said, "We only need a few weeks." The band went back into the studio with Ted Templeman and came right back out with this heat seeker.

VH II-era Van Halen was the band at their best. Eddie is Eddie, of course, seemingly breaking new ground and conjuring magic with every note. There's plenty enough for rockers and musical therapy wonks to chew on. Michael Anthony's skillful bass is solid as always, but his background vocals shine through here more so than on any of the records from the DLR era. Alex keeps the train moving. It'd be a few years before millions of us see him pouting for the cameras on MTV and doing flying kicks, but Dave had already perfected his showmanship by this stage. He's not so much a singer as he is a performer.

That performance covers up a lot of simple lyrics. "Somebody Get Me a Doctor" is all gas and no brakes. The title is also most of the song. Most listeners are too busy rocking out to notice.

"DOA" is dark and a little bit menacing. It's also one of my all-time faves by the band. For all the freewheeling songs about partying tough, this one shows they can do "gritty" just as well.

As a kid, tracks like "Dance the Night Away" were the soundtrack to dudes working on their cars in the garage. Walking on my block today, I see that it still is- the vehicles are different, but the tracks are the same.

You could argue that, intentionally or not, Van Halen is much more of a singles band than they are an album group. If you disagree, VH II won't help you immediately make your case. "Dance the Night Away” is likely the first (only?) song people think of when mentioning this record, if they even recall which album it's on.

It’s a shame this record is so often overlooked, as it consistently threatens you with a good time. Really, what more could you ask for from an album? But deep cuts or not, this was a band on fire and more than ready to take on the world,

When a band is still new, it is often overconfident. Let's be honest: kicking off this record with a Linda Ronstadt cover could have gone either way. But while the band certainly isn't shy, you get the feeling that, at this point, they still had no idea just how good they really were.

Elvis would approve.

Sam’s pick & my take: Kraftwerk- Trans Europe Express (1977)

The members of Kraftwerk fell in love with sequencers, figured out how to make them play the sounds they wanted for as long as they wanted, and then made a record that gave rise to new wave, synthpop, krautrock, and a bag full of other genres. It’s a whole bunch of simple beeps and boops blended together to make much more engrossing sounds. I’m incredibly jealous of anyone that gets to hear this for the first time. If that's you after reading this, please comment below.

Groundbreaking is often hyperbolic. Not in this case.

68: Paul Simon- Graceland (1986)

The early 1980s found Paul Simon in a rough spot. The heyday of Simon and Garfunkel was behind him. He’d had a couple of records flop, and he’d just been through a breakup with Carrie Fisher (yes, that Carrie Fisher). In short, he was disillusioned and looking for an escape chute.

In a bit of luck, a friend gave him a mixtape of South African artists; Simon became obsessed with the sounds he was hearing and asked his label for help tracking some of the musicians down. Thinking he didn't have much to lose, he made another large bet and headed to South Africa to make a record. In the mid-80s, this wasn't exactly a popular move. Apartheid was still very much in effect, and there was plenty of pushback. But Graceland showed the sounds of South Africa and the musicians making them. However, Simon didn't limit himself to that part of the globe. “On All Around the World or the Myth of Fingerprints,” he partners with Los Lobos to close the record out on a rollicking high note. The world is a big place, and this record is a big record. There are so many moving parts, angles, and backstories that it felt daunting to try encapsulating them in a brief paragraph or two.

Besides being an excellent record, it’s worth noting that I’m typing this on its 38th birthday, and it sounds as good now as it did when I first got it on cassette in elementary school. Whether dancing along to “Boy in the Bubble” or giggling through the “You Can Call Me Al” video, this was the onramp to world music for many people of a certain age.

Sam’s pick & my take: Fleetwood Mac- Rumours (1977)

A cocaine-fueled masterpiece made by a band whose personal lives were going up in flames all around them? Yes, please. If Mirage is my favorite (yes, really) and Tusk represents the band at its most outlandish, Rumours represents them Hitting on all cylinders. There’s a reason Nathan Apodaca picked “Dreams” to skateboard to work and not "something like “Hold Me.”

You don't have to go long without hearing a song from this record on the radio. They’ve earned the right to stay in any programmer’s rotation. But to my ear, the highlights on this record are some of the deep cuts, specifically “I Don't Want to Know” and “Second Hand News.”

67: Anita Baker- Rapture (1986)

Anita Baker’s sophomore record, Rapture, was a classy, elegant antidote to much of what R&B looked like in the 80s. It’s sophisticated and has gravity. And all of that is held down by Baker’s incredible contralto vocals. It was music for adults that somehow managed to find its way onto pop radio and into (then) kid’s ears. Whether the soundtrack to a night in with someone special or an awkward slow dance at school (cough), it’s timeless, sensual, tasteful music from one of the best voices ever to do it.

Sam’s pick & my take: Rage Against The Machine- S/T (1992)

I will date myself again and share that I've seen Rage twice; once opening for House of Pain at Portland's Pine Street Theater and once opening for U2 at Autzen Stadium. Both times were lost on me. For the former, we were too caught up in House of Pain and their “Jump Around” (now a staple at UW’s Camp Randall) to appreciate what we were seeing. The second time, playing in a football stadium swallowed them up. Shame really. This is a band that never met a window it wouldn’t throw a rock through, and they had the talent to back it up. Zach De la Rocha’s political rants can get long-winded, but it's hard to argue against the message or the earnest delivery. Guitarist Tom Morello brought an academic bent to his guitar playing and reinvented the wheel at every turn. The rhythm section of Brad Wilk and Tom Commerford kept things in check and in the pocket. 2020 was a mess. I don’t know if there was a soundtrack to the uprisings that summer, but 1992 wasn't exactly a picnic either, and if it was set to music, this would be playing.

66: Rickie Lee Jones- Pirates (1981)

Dig through enough crates; eventually, you‘ll find a copy or two of this. That in itself isn’t a surprise. What is surprising (at least to me) is that it’s always priced to move. I think the most I've ever seen it go for was $6-7. YMMV. It seems strange to me that a record like this doesn't command more value. It was a critical hit and moved plenty of units, so what gives?

On the surface, Pirates is a breakup record inspired by her split from Tom Waits. It’s more cinematic than her debut, and there’s no obvious hit here like her quirky “Chuck E’s in Love.” Her effortlessly cool and/or flippant side is also less apparent here, with “Woody and Dutch on the Slow Train to Peking” being (maybe) the sole exception. I suppose that’s what happens when several of the songs are about heartache. Instead many of them feel like vignettes. Living It Up feels like it could be a song in an off-Broadway show. Some of them go big. It’s aspirational. There’s lots of anthemic piano. Some go small and are long on introspection and longing.

So why is it so cheap? I dunno. What I do know is that if you see it out in the wild, grab yourself a copy.

Sam’s pick & my take: Fela Kuti- Zombie (1977)

Perhaps more than the first three editions, a bit of overlap is starting to emerge in Sam and I’s tastes. There is a Tom Waits record, and there is a record about breaking up with Tom Waits. We each have what (in broad terms) could be considered world music picks.

That said, I had never heard this before. What a delight! I put it on, anticipating some nice background music while I did some other work. Big mistake. This is far too lively of record to dare try to concentrate on anything else. So I did the only thing I could; I skipped working, and listened to this instead, justifying it as ‘research.’

65: LCD Soundsystem- Sound of Silver (2007)

Only James Murphy could conjure up a record that would sound as good booming through the speakers at a packed dance club as it would on AOR radio or a Brian Eno tribute hour. For the band’s sophomore record, the band combined all the disparate elements to create an incredible whole.

Want something to get your feet moving? Cue up “Get Innocuous!”.

Want some New Wave with a touch of call-and-response? Dust off your skinny tie and press play on “Watch the Tapes.”

How about an LCD-style love letter to Gotham? “New York I Love You, But You’re Bringing Me Down” is your track.

There’s an apocryphal story that Murphy used to make up his lyrics as he headed into the booth to record them. That might be true, but if so, I can’t help but think that wasn't the case on Sounds of Silver. That the lament on getting older on a track like “All My Friends” was just riffed on the fly is too much for me to wrap my head around.

Verses like…

It comes apart
The way it does in bad films
Except the part
Where the moral kicks in
Though when we're running out of the drugs
And the conversation's winding away
I wouldn't trade one stupid decision
For another five years of life

…feel like something 100 sheets of legal paper gave their lives for. The best lyrics balance being just ambiguous enough to be interesting while still hitting a line drive right to your heart. Every time I listen to this, I find a new favorite line or one that stops me in my tracks—or both.

Every once in a while, a record comes along that represents the connective tissue of the records that came before it and presents them in a new way. Sound of Silver is one of those. A record whose sleeve is at home in a DJ’s crate as it might be on one’s lap being used to roll a joint. You can normalize. Don’t it make you feel alive?

Sam’s pick & my take: Joana Newsom- Ys (2006)

Another record that was 100% new to me. A cursory search showed me that Steve Albini recorded this. I assumed I knew what I was getting into. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Chamber pop and baroque aren't usually in my wheelhouse, but having listened to it, I can totally see how it made Sam’s list. The vocals are incredible, and the arrangements are gorgeous. Everything is layered and elaborate but never spills over into becoming overwrought or excessive. It all feels like a walk through a forest on a sunny day or a trip to the antique site on your block—in all the best ways.

64: Chemical Brothers- For That Beautiful Feeling (2023)

There’s a line of thinking that a record that’s not even two years old doesn't belong on a list like this. A record needs time to breathe, you see, to settle into the collective consciousness, etc.

That’s a fair point, but it also acts as gatekeeping. Who sets these arbitrary rules? When did we all collectively decide to agree with them? Do we really only want to read lists full of 50-year-old “classic rock” records?

I’d say no and present For That Beautiful Feeling as Exhibit A for the defense.

I suppose I could’ve come closer to that arbitrary threshold with the band's first record, Exit Planet Dust, which turns 30 next year. Indeed, before this release, it was tied with No Geography as my favorite record by the band. In my original review of the record, I noted:

One of the advantages of longevity is that you know what works and what doesn’t. You’re also afforded the freedom to stretch your legs a bit. To be clear, there is no mistaking this for anything but a Chemical Brothers record, but it feels like they’ve taken some of the best parts of earlier records and reimagined them into new tracks & a fresh sound. Listening, I was sometimes reminded of earlier concussive dance floor fillers like Three Little Birdies Down Beats and the transcendent vibe of No Geography.
Live Again is all gas & no brakes, with a woozy synth line that feels like it will spin right off the face of the Earth if it’s not careful. The Weight feels like Block Rockin’ Beats era Chemical Brothers. It would work as well on Dig Your Own Hole as it does here. The Darkness feels, well, transcendent with lofty vocals, beautiful keys, and a driving beat.
They have also reunited with Beck for Skipping Like A Stone, having previously collaborated on 2015’s Wide Open from their heir Born In the Echoes album. On a record full of strong candidates, this is my runaway favorite. The best music hits you at a gut level and elicits a visceral reaction. This will remind listeners of nights on a pulsing dance floor with friends and parties still going as the sun rose.

The best records hit listeners at a visceral level. You love the feeling they give you even if/when you can’t articulate why. Other times, they very clearly remind you of a warm memory. Or maybe they’re just a dopamine rush backed with just the right BPM and killer beats.

For That Beautiful Feeling hits all those marks.

Sam’s pick and my take: Herbie Hancock- Headhunters (1973)

The best jazz records break the rules. I don’t mean just for the sake of doing so. I mean it in the sense that they’re looking for new ground to break and new horizons. Jazz is also something that musicians and fans prefer to keep for themselves. The usual gatekeepers scoffed, but fans loved it. Headhunters was groundbreaking, but it also went gold within six months and eventually reached platinum status. If everyone loves what you‘re doing, are you really rebelling? Maybe. Maybe not. But Hancock & co. did make one of our lifetime's best jazz fusion records.

63: Bad Brains- I Against I (1986)

Even if you don't know the name Bad Brains, you 've likely seen the cover of their debut, with its (now) iconic picture of a lightning bolt striking the capitol dome.

Bad Brains are a difficult band to categorize. Are they reggae? Are they punk? Are they hardcore?

Yes.

Until now, the band had worked in elements of all three, with white-hot riffs mixed in with slower stops and plenty of rapid starts/stops on the way. A song going 100 miles an hour might be followed with a reggae tune, which might be followed with another blistering fast track.

For their third record, the band focused less on the punk & reggae elements and more on the guitar work of Dr. Know. Frontman HR’s superpower has always been the ability to shift between menacing sneers, guttural growls, and crooning with a sense of urgency. Those stylings contrast the band’s work here and make for a nice guardrail to keep this from becoming a metal album. As for that urgency? HR had just a few hours to record vocal tracks before reporting to prison to serve a stretch for a marijuana conviction. He got almost all of them done in two takes— “Sacred Love” was recorded via payphone from inside. You can hear the angst in nearly every note.

The speed of the title track hints that this record’ll be more of the same, but that’s as fast as it gets. Instead, we’re treated to more (relatively) straightforward tracks. There are still starts and stops here, and “House of Suffering” is wonderfully reckless, but those looking for a Rock For Light redux will be disappointed. Instead, we get a solid LP showcasing the band at its pinnacle. They set the bar high and would never clear it again.

And even if you still don't know their name, you’ve heard them in the sounds of countless bands they’ve influenced.

Sam’s pick and my take: Gorillaz- Plastic Beach (2010)

For a supposedly virtual band, Plastic Beach features a murderer's row of (very real) musicians. Everyone from Snoop Dogg to Paul Simonon and Mick Jones of The Clash is here to help bring the ideas swirling around in Damon Albarn and Jaime Hewlett’s brains to life. Even the Fall’s Mark E. Smith is here, for crying out loud! And we are gifted with a record that's equal parts pop and concept records. A little moody, a little dancy. A lot wonderous. Tracks like “Melancholy Hill” are peak pop sugar.

62: Afghan Whigs- Black Love (1996)

Free of expectations and self-inflicted pressure that had chased them through making Gentlemen, Greg Dulli, and Afghan Whigs made the record they wanted to make. There’s more piano on it. It explores deeper themes and takes us to places further away than the previous albums did. And for the most part, it's still waiting for people to discover it. “Honky’s Ladder” was a 120 Minutes staple for a little while, but that’s about as far as things went; I think the best thing I can say about this record is that I agree with Dulli’s assessment below—that it’s the favorite for people that are really into the band. And for those coming to the band for the first time, I think it’ll eventually become theirs.

I feel as though Black Love was misunderstood. I feel, as time has gone by, my faith and belief in it has been validated. When we did the reunion tour, we were playing almost the entire Black Love record. It has some of my favorite songs I’ve ever written. And I think it’s the favorite of the people that really love the band. There is a magic inside Black Love that is unexplainable to me. I don’t ever want it explained.
~Greg Dulli

In Part 1, I mentioned seeing The Church and that the vibes felt slightly off. The other band that night was the Whigs, and it's worth noting that songs off of Black Love pulled the crowd back into more than any others (at least in my part of the theater). I don't blame ‘em. The tracks are amazing. I don't want the magic explained to me, either.

Sam’s pick & my take: Pixies- Doolittle (1989)

This record is canon. I don’t like that I’m getting old. I love that I was around to experience this era in music.

Writing about this record to mark it’s 35th earlier this year, I noted:

All of that to say that Doolittle is an odd record from an odd band. Calling them eclectic would be as reductive as merely calling Francis a singer. But everything works here, and 35 years on, it feels as inspiring and exciting today as it did when I first heard it. Despite its twists and turns, it's all gas & no brakes and a record that still manages to reveal new little bits to me every time I play it. It’s both a hot mess and perfectly put together. It's light and hard-hitting and came along at just the right time.
If there's a downside to the album, it's that it overshadows both Bossanova and Trompe Le Monde—both solid records in their own right.
I’ll be riding my bike to see the band at the end of June. And while there are a handful of tracks off both records I hope to hear, there are several from Doolittle I’m looking forward to.
Classic? Maybe. Influential & iconic? No doubt. Several copies later, it remains one of my favorites.

That June show didn't happen— Mother Nature had other plans, and not even Frank Black is coming out to play during a tornado warning. Maybe next time. Hopefully, I won't have to wait for another 30-ish years.

61: The Go-Betweens- 16 Lovers Lane (1988)

Earlier, I mentioned the overlaps in some of our picks. 16 Lovers Lane and Rumours share some common ground. The main thing is that both records are masterpieces forged on a battlefield of interband conflict, breakups, and heartache.

Robert Forster and Grant McLennan1 made a formidable team, with each usually writing half of the songs and sharing them with one another first. Both had differing styles and on previous records, it's not hard to tell whose song is whose. That doesn't happen as quickly here. Plenty of clues exist, but the record is much more cohesive than previous outings. There are elements of C86, jangle pop and more here. In short, everything was here to finally launch the band over the wall of the critic’s darling prison and into pop stardom. But while Buckingham, Nicks, and co. were able to leverage that strife into millions of sales, there would be no such luck for The Go-Betweens. Even the beautiful “Streets of Your Town” couldn't do it despite seeing some decent airplay. Courtney Barnett has cited it as the inspiration for her “Depreston,” track, but that’s as close as the track came to any chart success.

The band broke up for quite a while soon after this, leaving 16 Lovers Lane as their finest hour and de facto farewell.

Sam’s pick & my take: The White Stripes- Elephant (2003)

I catch myself whenever I hear Seven Nation Army ring out from the soccer stand. What a song to co-opt! How odd that a band that’s not exactly obsessed with fame still has 1000s of people singing that song 20+ years on. Is there anyone else in that rarified air? My bemusement aside, Elephant is a solid record. How so much sound can come from two people is beyond me, but here we are. Other than some backing vocals, it really is just the two of them. Meg White’s drumming is simple (and simple is never easy), and Jack White’s guitar (and piano) take us from soccer stand fodder to swamp flats on tracks like “I Want to be the Boy to Warm Your Mother’s Heart.” It’s a no-skips record, even if not everything would sound good being yelled from a terrace.

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That’s a wrap on Round Four! Be sure to share your thoughts in the comments, check out Sam’s thoughts on his picks, and stay tuned as we wrap up the top half next week!

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